


Post-It Notes

by Robin Hood (kjack89)



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Post-it Notes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-20 03:46:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11912553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kjack89/pseuds/Robin%20Hood
Summary: Of all the strange habits SVU’s newest detective had, including his bizarre tendency to spout every little thing he had ever learned at night school in a desperate bid for attention, the one that should bother Barba the most was the post-it notes.Ok, the unasked for legal advice should probably top that list, but Barba was on occasion a weak man and he wasn’t going to deny himself the simple pleasure of a much younger, much more attractive man desperately seeking his approval.But the post-its — Barba was almost certain that had they come from anyone else, it would’ve driven him up the wall.Because Carisi left themeverywhere.





	Post-It Notes

**Author's Note:**

> Technically this could've gone in my prompt collection fic, but I really like this one so I decided to publish it separately because, you know, I can.
> 
> Usual disclaimer. The Post-Its brand is a registered trademark of 3M and I'm certain they would have no issues with the association of said brand with fanfic of this nature. Please be kind and tip your fanfic writers in the form of comments and/or kudos!

Of all the strange habits SVU’s newest detective had, including his bizarre tendency to spout every little thing he had ever learned at night school in a desperate bid for attention, the one that should bother Barba the most was the post-it notes.

Ok, the unasked for legal advice should probably top that list, but Barba was on occasion a weak man and he wasn’t going to deny himself the simple pleasure of a much younger, much more attractive man desperately seeking his approval.

But the post-its — Barba was almost certain that had they come from anyone else, it would’ve driven him up the wall.

Because Carisi left them _everywhere_.

His case notes were littered with the brightly colored slips of paper, normally with tenuous legal arguments scribbled on them, and while Barba appreciated that Carisi had the good sense not to include his unnecessary legal ramblings in the text of his case notes themselves, that didn’t mean he had to appreciate them at all.

But he did. Barba enjoyed getting to see the way Carisi’s mind worked, played out over 3 square inches of neon-colored paper. He found each scribble endlessly fascinating, trying to decipher what things Carisi had crossed out, or the jumps in logic from one to the next.

He would never in a million years admit it, of course. He was weak, not suicidal.

So he peeled each post-it note off of the case file after reading it, and instead of crumpling each one up and throwing them out like he should, he slipped them into his desk drawer. Just in case.

Those post-its were joined by a variety of other ones that Carisi left for Barba: stuck on his computer screen if he swung by the office when Barba was out, pressed against the cup of coffee Carisi brought for Barba during a court recess, appended to whatever paperwork SVU sent his way during long cases.

Normally they were still little notes related to the case, but every now and then, they were something entirely unrelated, a little observation to make Barba laugh (‘ _And you thought my mustache was bad_ ’ attached to the mugshot of a perp with particularly hideous facial hair, for example), or a quick doodle or something equally absurd.

Barba should hate it, all these little distractions delivered via sticky note.

Instead, he hoarded them like treasure.

And again, though even under threat of death he would never admit it, but sometimes, when he’d had a particularly bad day, or a case was getting to him, or he was just more tired than usual, he would flip through the post-it notes until he found one that made him smile.

It was surprisingly easy to smile at those stupid post-its. Pathetically easy, even.

Barba was pathetic. But it wasn’t like anyone was going to find out about his secret stash of post-its, so did it really matter?

As it turned out, it did.

Carisi was in Barba’s office late one evening ostensibly for trial prep, though they hadn’t actually gotten much work done yet, bickering over the finer points of an entirely unrelated case. “I think I know what I’m talking about, Detective,” Barba said dismissively.

Carisi stood, his brow furrowed. “Where’s the case file?” he demanded. “I know it’s in there, I can prove it to you.”

Barba rolled his eyes. “Third drawer of my desk,” he said dismissively, bending over the case file for the case they were actually supposed to be working on when he froze. “Wait, not the third drawer—”

It was too late. Carisi had already yanked the desk drawer open and frozen in place, staring down at the post-it notes that had spilled out. Barba had never so acutely wanted to die right on the spot, and as Carisi slowly bent to pick up the post-its that had fallen to the floor, he fervently prayed for some kind of natural disaster to strike just so that he could avoid answering any of the questions that were undoubtedly going to follow.

Carisi looked up at him, his expression blank. “You kept all of these?” he asked.

Barba shrugged stiffly. “I figured they might end up pertinent to a case,” he muttered.

“This is a drawing of a dinosaur on a skateboard,” Carisi said. “How would that be pertinent to a case?”

“So I may have kept that one on accident,” Barba shot back, his embarrassment causing his temper to flare. “But the rest are case-related.”

Carisi raised an eyebrow and held up a blue post-it note. “This one just says ‘voir dire the fuck outta him’,” he said. “Do you even remember what case this relates to?”

“Actually, I do,” Barba said smugly. “It was the Mitchell case — there was a witness who had come forward who you didn’t trust, and you wanted me to push him and see…” He trailed off at the look on Carisi’s face. “I’m not actually helping my case here, am I?”

“Not really, no,” Carisi said. He looked from the post-its to Barba. “Why’d you really keep ‘em?”

Barba shrugged again, helplessly this time. “They make me smile,” he said, wincing at how sad that sounded.

But Carisi seemed to brighten at that, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, and he nodded in something like understanding before rummaging around in the top drawer of Barba’s desk and emerging with a pad of post-its and a pen. He scribbled something on one, two, three post-it notes and Barba was practically falling out of his chair at that point, dying on the inside but also desperate to know what Carisi could possibly be writing.

After a long moment, Carisi crossed to Barba and handed him the post-its. ‘ _Good_ ’, the first post-it said, followed by, ‘ _I wanted to make you smile_ ’. And then, written on the last post-it, something almost hesitant in Carisi’s scrawl, ‘ _Go on a date with me?_ ’

Barba didn’t even hesitate before tossing the post-its aside and standing to kiss Carisi.

* * *

 

When Barba woke up the next morning, he was alone. That wasn’t surprising; Carisi had muttered something about an early morning before they had fallen asleep together, but Barba still felt blindly for the other man before remembering.

He allowed himself a full minute of satisfied smiling as he remembered the latter half of their evening together before he got out of bed and shuffled into the bathroom. When he turned the light on he, he was surprised to see a post-it note stuck to the bathroom mirror. ‘ _We should do this again sometime_ ’ was all it said.

And Barba couldn’t help but smile.

* * *

 

Two months later, Barba once again woke up alone, but judging by the lingering warmth from Carisi’s side of the bed, the detective hadn’t left too long ago. Part of him wished that Carisi had woken him up, but then again, he’d accidentally made Carisi late for work twice that week already.

Well, maybe not so accidentally.

He sat up and stretched and glanced at the clock, making a face at the time. He contemplated taking a shower but decided coffee was the more pressing issue. He made his way to the kitchen and lit up when he saw the travel mug waiting for him, green post-it on the front. “Have a good day,” Barba read aloud, grinning, and picked up the mug to take a sip when he felt a post-it note on the backside of the mug as well.

Curious, he turned the mug around and froze at the three words scrawled on an orange post-it: ‘ _I love you_ ’.

His heart stopped.

They hadn’t said it yet, because they’d only been doing this for two months and two months was just too soon. Wasn’t it?

Carefully, Barba peeled the post-it note off of the mug, unable to stop the smile that spread across his face as he re-read it. Maybe it was too early to say it out loud, but given the warmth that seemed to bloom in his chest, maybe it wasn’t too early to say it via post-it note.

* * *

 

Later that day, Carisi slumped back into the precinct, exhausted, a headache building in his temples. This case had been a nightmare from the start, and it didn’t show any signs of getting better.

He plopped down in his desk chair and was just about to open his laptop when he saw a pink post-it note stuck to his stapler. He pulled the post-it note off, his brow furrowing.

‘ _I love you, too_.’

Carisi felt a grin spread across his face and he set the post-it note down on his desk, his headache and the stress of the case momentarily forgotten.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Dino](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16804747) by [Robin Hood (kjack89)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kjack89/pseuds/Robin%20Hood)




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